The Bear Comes Home by Ravi Zabor

Ravi Zabor is a musical journalist and jazz drummer living in Brooklyn who delights us with a comic and insightful story about a Shakespeare quoting, philosophic, beer drinking, alto sax playing, Coltrane-type bear. The Bear comes from a long line of European circus performing bears and through some genetic twist of fate, the bear can talk.

The story opens with the bear and his owner, Jones, living together in a three-flight walk up and eking out a living by performing a daily street act for tips. Zabor creates a wonderful banter between the two and you find yourself laughing out loud at the interplay between the bear and Jones.

The bear has one great passion in his life and that is playing alto sax. It is this passion that easily leads the reader through this ursine's giant step into the real jazz world. The journey takes you through the bear's brilliant musical improvisations, live album, nightclub bust, jail term, love affair, recording contract, road tour and triumphant struggle.

It is a comic gem and brilliant insight into what it must feel like to be a bear in a human world with all the profound thoughts and emotionally realities of life. You don't have to be a jazz enthusiast to love the story, it only adds to the enjoyment of this brilliant work. I highly recommend it.

Ravi Zabor is a musical journalist and jazz drummer living in Brooklyn who delights us with a comic and insightful story about a Shakespeare quoting, philosophic, beer drinking, alto sax playing, Coltrane-type, bear.